After resting in the secret laboratory for a few hours, Su Xiao opened his eyes.
"Time to go."
This hidey-hole was not a long-term place to stay, it was only suitable for a temporary rest. The environment was just not suitable and may cause wound infection.
Yuna had sat down next to him and without his noticing had leant on Su Xiao's shoulder, all the while softly snoring.
Su Xiao pushed her shoulder and Yuna woke up with a jump.
"What's wrong, ghouls?"
Yuna's state of mind was normal, considering the situation. If Investigators were not absolutely vigilant inside of the 24th district, they would end up dead.
"The ghouls are gone."
Su Xiao stood up and went to the gap in the wall, before squeezing himself through.
Yuna, who was suffering from claustrophobia, hesitated for a while, but eventually gnashed her teeth and went into the gap.
Returning to the tunnels of the 24th district, they noticed how quiet it was.
Since the beginning of Su Xiao's first foray into the 24th district, he had experienced a lot of danger.
It should even be the most dangerous experience since he entered this world. Compared to this, his time in the 14th district was just easy.
Su Xiao used his hand-drawn map to orient himself and continued moving ahead.
He recorded every branching route and left a mark on it.
Su Xiao's footsteps stopped after two hours of traversing the intricate passages.
"Why did you stop?"
"We've been here before."
Looking at the ground, Su Xiao put an arrow on the map.
They were now moving in the wrong direction, not towards the surface, but to the depths of the 24th district.
Without a clear indicator of their direction, getting lost would remain a problem.
Su Xiao was not depressed though. He just had to keep trying, with his maps and markings in the passages, he would sooner or later be able to escape the 24th district.
"Boom."
A muffled sound came from their side, from behind a meat wall, someone was fighting.
"That's Arima. This is the sound of the large-scale electric discharge of 'Narukami'."
Yuna cheered, it meant that Arima Kisho had survived too.
Su Xiao did not make a sound. He was trying to discern the source of the sound. Arima Kisho was his teammate now, if it wasn't for him blocking the passage, they would've already died.
"This way."
Su Xiao accelerated, from fast walking into running.
Walking through the passages like a maze, Su Xiao's footsteps were getting faster and faster, as he had a general understanding of the nearby routes.
The sounds of battle were getting closer and closer. After a corner, Arima Kisho appeared in the distance.
At this time, Arima Kisho wasn't looking as elegant anymore, his upper body was bare, his white hair was stained with blood, and his glasses were also missing.
"Why, why don't you talk to us, huh, would you feel too ashamed to communicate with us?"
An old ghoul with white hair looked at Arima Kisho with sadness.
"Don't waste time to talk about this, he is not our…"
Another old ghoul just wanted to say something, but Arima Kisho raised his 'Narukami'.
"Boom, boom."
Two electric balls were shot, but the two old ghouls were not weak and nimbly avoided them.
Arima Kisho then activated 'IXA', which he kept in his left hand.
Puchi! Puchi!
A part of 'IXA' had been changed and sneaked into the ground, and at this time it broke through the ground and directly skewered the two ghouls.
"Why, why do you…"
An old ghoul looked at Arima Kisho with frustration visible on his face, he wanted to say something, but died before he could.
Arima Kisho's mouth opened and closed as he mumbled something.
From Su Xiao's perspective, who could only see the face of Arima Kisho, his demeanor was surprisingly sad. Was he sad after killing the two ghouls?
Su Xiao frowned lightly
The two dead ghouls had seemed to respect Arima Kisho a bit.
Yes, it was respect, as if Arima Kisho had been their leader before.
CCG's strongest Investigator being the former leader of ghouls? This mere idea sounded ridiculous.
"Arima."
Yuna yelled, she saw that the situation was a bit strange as well.
Arima Kisho turned around and looked at the two. At this time, Arima Kisho had closed his right eye.
"You are here, good. This exploration is over."
The atmosphere was a bit strange. Su Xiao did not say anything, he had a lot of doubts about the CCG himself, and would allow Arima Kisho his secrets.
His first priority was to obtain a large amount of CCG contribution points, and then exchange them for the [human genetic strengthening fluid] and [Crushing Fairy].
Together, the two required 28000 CCG contribution points.
And now was not a time for mutual suspicion and infighting, they were still in the 24th district, still in danger, and judging from Arima Kisho's behavior, he didn't seem to think of betraying them.
Once Arima Kisho had entered the 24th district, they had been killing ghouls, and he had never tried selling out or outright backstabbing them.
Unless Arima Kisho wanted to betray the entire CCG, he would not fight against Su Xiao.
"Arima, what's up with those two ghouls?"
Yuna, the neurotic girl, apparently had no intentions of letting things be and directly voiced her suspicions.
"These were friends of mine. They used to pretend to be human. I was very young at the time, and didn't notice anything. It was a lot of years ago. I didn't expect to meet them today, as an Investigator."
There was a bitter smile on Arima Kisho face, and blood was still dripping from his chin.
"I got it. I've had such a friend too. It was my classmate, I killed him myself."
Ghouls hid between humans, so Investigators and ghouls accidentally becoming friends happened more often than one would think.
Being an Investigator was only a profession, they were usually dressed like ordinary people, and ghouls hid and found ways to integrate into human society.
As such, the situation of an Investigator and a ghoul meeting and becoming friends was not too uncommon.
Yuna believed what Arima Kisho was saying, after all, they had been working together for a half year at this point, that friendship would not be affected by this incident.
Could things really be that simple? Su Xiao at least did not fully believe that, but he would not voice his suspicions. Everyone had their own secrets. Everyone who went digging for other's secrets would find themselves left alone.
Su Xiao took the map and led the way ahead, with Arima Kisho and Yuna following behind.
Just like now, in the case of losing the compass, the maps in his hands were incredibly precious.
Su Xiao recorded every fork of the route, his hand-drawn map was getting better and better, and their red arrow was getting longer and longer, which was their road to above-ground.
"There are footsteps."
Su Xiao stopped and looked at the dim passage to the front.
"Run fast, it's the White Reaper."
There were more than a dozen ghouls that had just emerged from ahead. After noticing Arima Kisho, they just turned and ran.
Those three people were just standing still, not pursuing, the three had to avoid battle wherever possible.
In the 24th district, most ghouls would just try to escape, once they noticed Arima, without putting up a fight.
This undoubtedly sped up the process. After just another hour of walking, Su Xiao saw the metal door of the entrance.
Arima Kisho opened the door for them. After the three walked out, the metal door was closed and locked.
This was to prevent the ghouls in 24th district from leaving and flooding Tokyo. As for whether it would be effective in doing so if the ghouls really tried, that was just speculation.
Through the straight passage, light appeared ahead of them.
It was the sunlight. Su Xiao thought they had stayed underground for far too long.
Blinking his eyes repeatedly as they got out of the tunnels, Su Xiao had returned above-ground, and to the human world.
Although they hadn't been in the 24th for long, it felt as if they were separated from the world for a pretty long time.
He took a deep breath, enjoying the exceptionally fresh air, without the smells from the 24th district.